You guys had such awesome feedback on my Kitchen Moodboards post on Instagram, and I’m excited to share our final kitchen design selections! I ultimately decided to go with the Elevated Natural vibe, bringing in lots of organic and natural finishes paired with more refined details. Marble slab backsplash, soapstone-looking quartz countertops, natural wood cabinets, aged brass fixtures and hardware, and suspended brass shelving help to round out the design.

Selecting Backsplash and Countertop Materials

When it comes to countertops, I knew quartz or a manufactured stone was going to be the way to go. I am hard on my kitchen. I love to cook and didn’t want to have to worry about too much maintenance. Because I decided on wood cabinets for the majority of the kitchen – along with the marble slab look backsplash – I wanted to pull in a darker counter to provide some contrast and not look as though I was trying to match the marble. I love the look of a natural soapstone, but it is a softer stone and prone to scratches that need to be buffed out. I first found Charcoal Soapstone from Silestone which is a beautiful alternative! However, I ultimately settled on MSI’s Soapstone Metropolis, which is very similar, only it has a bit more warmth to it that went better with my other selections.

You can see the difference in the photo. The Silestone reads a bit more blue, or cool toned. While the MSI material has more of a warm undertone.

The MSI Soapstone Metropolis comes in both polished and “Concrete”, or a more matte finish (polished is shown on the right above). I’m going with polished finished, as I’ve heard feedback that the Concrete or suede finishes are harder to keep clean looking and hold on to water marks more. I also liked the more refined look in contrast with my honed marble backsplash.

Marble Slab Backsplash

The one thing I knew I wanted in our kitchen design was a full slab marble or marble look backsplash. While marble is a natural stone that does stain and requires more maintenance, I was ok with the trade off in a backsplash application. We had a marble mosaic in our last kitchen and it did really well in the 3 years we lived there. I also considered porcelain slabs, which were the closest thing aesthetically to the look of real marble I found. I was impressed with how realistic they were, particularly the Infinity brand. However, my fabricator explained to me that working with porcelain is a bit more difficult. In the end, the cost to fabricate it might be equal to, or more expensive than the all-in marble cost. And for us that was true. Because we were using the same marble slab for our fireplace design, it made sense to go with this Arabescato Corchia for our kitchen as well. I love the movement, mix of grays, and warm taupe veining undertones.

Hardware & Fixtures

I feel in love with this pendant when I saw this stunning kitchen design from Jean Stoffer Design. I could not stop thinking about it, and we’re going to be hanging two above our island! The aged brass finish from Rejuvenation is so beautiful, and I loved the nod to classic design by using knobs for the cabinets. And the weight and quality of these pulls are incredible!

Final Kitchen Selections

For our island, I decided to go with an accent color on the cabinets using Sherwin Williams Gray’s Harbor. Our wood cabinet stain has a slight grey hue to it, and I loved how the color gave a weighted warmth to the kitchen. I first discovered Gray’s Harbor from seeing Studio Mcgee’s ranch house kitchen, and knew it was the winner! Our island is fairly skinny, so water-falling the countertop was the way to go. While you’ll only see a tiny bit of the color, I loved the dark on dark idea!

The countdown is still on until everything comes together! What you probably heard is true, everything is taking WAY longer than normal in the renovation process right now. But it shouldn’t be too much longer until we can see this kitchen design come to life! Be sure to follow along on Instagram as I share more updates and looks at all of our selections!

Shop Our Final Kitchen Design Selections Below!